Top IDEs for Ruby on Rails

Importance of IDE for ROR: Ruby on rails is a modern web language-framework combo to develop enterprise standard web applications on the fly. In past two years we have seen there is a stupendous popularity gain of Ruby on Rails due to its simple syntax and easy to learn approach. Web developers love the way they are developing web solutions in a much faster way than before using Ruby on Rail framework. Experts have already indicated about a bright future for Ruby on Rails in coming period. Any framework is incomplete without an IDE because, IDE provides lots of assistances to the web developer or ROR developer while developing quick websites. IDE can remember all the function names, variables, classes etc and it will assist the developer while writing the code with auto complete feature. It also helps in writing readable and maintainable codes with proper indentation. The best part is it notifies basic mistakes on the web developer’s code on the UI. Hence a web developer or Ruby developer can’t ignore the importance of IDE in rails framework. Let us have a quick look over few featured IDE for Ruby on Rail developers.

RubyMine: Well, JetBrains has a tremendous popularity among the web developers since it has produced many industry standard development environments. Rubymine is yet another wing to its feathers. It is probably the best IDE for the Ruby developers to develop modern web applications effortlessly and of course quickly. JetBrains provide a free 30 days trial period for this product for the web developers. You can also purchase a full functional Rubymine IDE to develop enterprise standard web applications on the fly.

Komodo IDE: Well, we don’t need any introduction for Komodo IDE for the web developers. Komodo is almost everywhere starting from HTML, CSS, PHP, ASP, Python and Perl etc. Everyone knows the reliability and assistance that Komodo provides to the web developer in developing effortless web applications. Komodo has all those features which are needed to write faster and better codes for the Ruby developers. Hence it has all time popularity among the web developers in different languages.

Aptana Studio 3: Aptana Studio 3 is an open source development tool for developing modern web applications. It also enables the web developers to test their web applications in single environment. As Komodo, is also supports languages like PHP, Python, Ruby, HTML5, CSS3 and Java Script etc. It provides the support for protocols like FTP, FTPs, SFTP and Capistrano. The best part is it can automatically publish your ROR application to hosting services like Heroku and Engine yard. So this is treated as the most featured IDE for ROR developers.

Arcadia: This is totally dedicated for Ruby developers. Because this IDE is developed by Ruby language and hence it can best fit to Ruby on Rails framework. It is extremely light weight tool kit. It provides all features of an ideal IDE like editing, debugging, source browsing, auto completion, syntax highlighting etc. Moreover it also supports cross platform compatibility test for the Ruby developers.

Besides above there are many small and light weight IDEs for Ruby developers like ICE coder, Netbeans, Redcar etc. Almost all the IDE share common features for the web developers with a very few unique features within them and those unique features make them to stand unique.

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Reason for ROR being a hot technology

The development tool Rails provides a framework to web developers so that a structure is given for all the written code. Developers can build applications as well as websites by virtue of this framework since normal repetitive tasks are simplified by it. Ruby is the programming language in which the framework Rails is written. Together they are an unbeatable combination which is known as Ruby on Rails or ROR. This language is a very popular as well as emerging one which stands apart from so many languages that are available for creation of web applications. There are several reasons for it being a hot technology, some of which are discussed here.

Flexibility- Developers are offered the chance to modify web applications very easily in case the customer so requires. This does not need too much time in comparison to other languages. Improvements can be made as well as new features can be added to keep in sync with the changing business needs.

JavaScript, CSS and HTML accessed directly- No presumptions are made by Rails about the turning of logic into output. A developer is given full control over your code’s presentation layer. This helps tie up the AJAX front ends and application logic together. This also helps in close working with design experts so that nice looking sites can be produced which is otherwise quite a difficult thing in systems which are less-flexible.

Agile- The technology follows agile methodology which results in short development cycles that help in facilitation of agile methodology applications. Test Driven Development is used by programmers so that the desired results can be obtained. This makes ROR the ideal choice for Scrum and Agile projects.

Quick development- Repetitive coding is something which is totally obsolete in this platform; thus features can be quickly developed. The main emphasis is not on configuration but rather on convention since agile development concepts is adopted. The developers can move from concepts quickly so that the actual development can be estimated. While developing larger projects, there is much to gain since the project can split into several small sized parts. It is also beneficial to entrepreneurs who are developing new web based ventures or products.

Great documentation- Both Rails as well as Ruby is extremely well documented. This makes it easy to understand the framework and solve problems which might arise. There are several video tutorials available over the internet, both with and without payment. These tutorials are quite high in quality, more effective and fun to follow than major books.

Package manager- A huge advantage that Ruby holds over others is the package manager known as RubyGems which helps in easy creation as well as sharing of software libraries extending Ruby. Through RubyGems, the software libraries which are also known as gems can be easily installed. Through the simple system, a gem can be uploaded by anyone to the main website. Thus the gem becomes available immediately for installation by all. The website contains the latest Rails version and here the gems can be obtained for building of complex websites.

Great options for tools- The system is relatively simple which has resulted in a number of great IDEs for the development process. Additionally, there are excellent tools in the ecosystem which can cater to near about any requirement; majority of them are open source or free.

Impressive language- The language Ruby boasts of unique combination of several great features that are common in many dynamic languages and some really good ideas of static, strongly typed languages which are then blended together with a paradigm that is object-oriented. This makes for a focused language that does not require too much coding.

Using ROR may be marked by many as a result of personal preference. But more than that, the several advantages that can be reaped from this alliance cannot be denied. Several popular web services like Groupon, Twitter, Hulu, Shopify, Scribd, etc have adopted this technology due to the benefits, making it a very hot property indeed.

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Testing Frameworks for Ruby on Rails

As an open source and full stack framework, Ruby on Rails (RoR) is used widely by developers to rapidly create a variety of web applications. RoR supports some of the widely used software engineering patterns and principles. So it becomes easier to easily accomplish several tasks. The web application development framework is further designed with integrated testing support.

The developers can easily write test by using the skeleton test code produced by RoR. Along with ensuring that the code adheres to the predefined functionality after major modifications, Rails also allow developers to test the application’s response by simulating browser requests. However, the developers can still use testing frameworks for Ruby on Rails to effectuate application testing.

5 Widely Used Testing Frameworks for Ruby on Rails

1) Cucumber
Despite being written in Ruby, Cucumber can be used effectively to test web applications written in several programming languages like C#, Java, Ruby, Python. So the testing framework can be used by QA engineers without knowing Ruby programming in detail. Cucumber is designed with features that execute plain-text functional descriptions as automated tests. Along with being an efficient testing tool, Cucumber also supports behavior-driven development (BDD). Thus, it becomes easier for both technical and non-technical stakeholders to verify the test code written before the original testing starts. You can use the testing framework after installing and activating the Cucumber gem inside your project.

2) RSpec
Like Cucumber, RSpec is also a testing tool that supports behavior-driven development. So the domain experts and business analyst can analyze the test code according to the features and use of the application. The testing framework for Ruby also comes with a set of features to make test driven development more productive. While testing a Ruby application using RSpec, the testing professional can avail rich command line program, flexible and customizable reporting, extensible expectation language, textual descriptions of examples and groups along with built-in mocking/stubbing framework.

3) Test::Unit
You can always use Test::Unit to test web applications by implementing the xUnit testing framework for Ruby. Once you started writing Ruby code, you will surely come across Test::Unit. Despite being bundled with Ruby, the unit testing framework is not a static part of RoR. The professionals writing new test code are further recommended to use MiniTest instead of Test::Unit.

4) Shoulda
Shoulda was originally designed as a unit testing tool. But it can be used to test Ruby applications by attaching the shoulda gem to the project. Thus, the Shoulda tests need to be added on to the Test::Unit framework. The shoulda gem is a meta gem with two dependencies, i.e., shoulda-context and shoulda-matchers. While testing Ruby applications, testing professionals can use these distinct dependencies to write test cases according to the requirements of the project.

5) Spork
Spork is used widely as a testing server to evaluate the Ruby applications. Each time you run a test, a copy of the server is forked. Thus, you can use RoR to reload your files without uploading them constantly. Further, Spork runs in a solid way, without being corrupted over time. Also, the testing server is compatible with several Ruby testing frameworks including Cucumber, RSpec and Test::Unit. Likewise, it also supports a number of application development frameworks. So it becomes easier for you to test different modules and meta programming.

On the whole, programmers have option to choose from a variety of testing frameworks for Ruby on Rails. Most of these frameworks are designed with features to facilitate a certain type of testing. So the developers must decide the Ruby on Rails testing framework according to the needs and objectives of the project.

You can hire developers from top ROR development companies in India who can help you build Ruby applications within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide Rails development services. If you would like to hire certified Rails developers from our team, please get in touch with us.